Taylor proud of team performance

New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor was ecstatic about his team's comeback on the fourth day of the second test against Australia in Hobart, clinching their first victory against the Aussies in 26 years.

After losing the first test in Brisbane and having to start the second test without all rounder Daniel Vettori, who pulled out due to a hamstring injury, New Zealand looked done for, with Australia starting the day just 169 runs away from victory with 10 wickets in hand. The Black Caps, fired by a lethal spell by Doug Bracewell who took 6 wickets for 40 runs, ripped through a solid Australian line-up to secure a tense victory of 7 runs.

Delighted with the win, New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor said: "The only thing I try and instil in the players is fight and pride and playing for your country. We didn't show much fight in Brisbane but we showed a lot of guts and determination out there today.

"That was for the New Zealand public, an early Christmas present if you like. The New Zealand public knows that the cricket team is always the underdog when it plays Australia but they don't like it when they don't show much fight. But we showed a lot of ticker today," he said.

The 27-year-old, who was just an infant when New Zealand last won against Australia, scored 56 in the second innings. He expressed faith that his team had a chance on the greentop wicket that bamboozled batsmen for all four days of the test.

"I didn't bat very well but I never felt in on that wicket so I knew that it wasn't going to be easy to bat on that wicket, it was still nipping around on day four," he said.

"We believed in ourselves that we could win this match, we knew we had to fight and take our catches and bowl in the right areas and we'll get our reward and that's what happened."

Refusing to take credit for handing the ball to Bracewell, Taylor said, "As captain, you've got to go on hunches, I thought Dougie would bowl well, I didn't think he'd bowl that well. Just stoked for him, he didn't bowl as well as he would have liked in Brisbane, although it didn't help that his captain dropped a catch.

"He bowled outstandingly well for a young guy(21), to come in for only his third test match against Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, that's something to tell your grand kids about." he said.